Hey Friend,
Would you consider yourself a patient person?
Do you like to wait for things?
Do you like to wait for things?
For me, that's a BIG NO!!
If you have been holding on to a big dream for a long time,
if you have been working towards a goal for years,
if you have been praying about a specific need for what seems like forever,
the waiting can be really hard... really hard.
That's where part of that persistence comes in that we talked about last week...
Staying the course.
Pushing forward.
One foot in front of the other.
God is always faithful to remind me through various means that even in the waiting He is still working.
“Throughout scripture, there’s not a man or woman that God used in a powerful way who didn’t first face a long and difficult time of waiting.”
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"So what do I do while I'm waiting?"
Well.... I'm glad you asked. :) Here are my thoughts...
1. Be Grateful - yes, as my friend Anna says, "Even in this you are blessed." Even in the waiting you are blessed. Grab a journal and purpose to write down 1-3 things every day that you are grateful for and allow those to be your focus.
2. Continue to Trust - even though God is not working things out as fast as you may like, He hasn't went anywhere. He still sees, hears, and knows all. Do not let your trust in His plan and purpose for your life waver in the waiting.
3. Lean In - the devil wants nothing more than for your season of waiting to cause a separation. He will begin to plant seeds of doubt and do everything in his power to steal your peace. Now is the time to press hard into Jesus, my friend.
4. Serve - shift the focus off of yourself and look outward. Who can you serve while you are waiting? God may purposely have you in this season as a way of slowing you down long enough so that you can be available to meet someone else's need.
5. Be Watchful and Hope - fill yourself with anxious expectation of what God is doing on your behalf, even if you aren't seeing it yet. There is a beautiful song by Danny Gokey called, "Haven't Seen It Yet." Find it on YouTube or Google and give a listen. Don't be so caught up in the way you think things should turn out, that you miss the blessings He is dropping all around you.
None of these things come easy friend, they require intention and perseverance. But stay the course. I promise, God isn't finished yet.
Until next time... Blessings!
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Don't forget, the gate opens on our new group, Guarding the Gate... of your Home, Body & Mind, on July 15th!
- If you are in a season of waiting and you are looking for a space filled with education and encouragement, come and join us!
- If you aren't in a season of waiting and you have education and encouragement to offer others, come and join us!
- If you are looking for a group of like-minded people and you want to just be a fly on the wall, come and join us! :)
Can we just be real for a hot minute...
Life is hard.
Harder lately.
Can I get an 'AMEN'?
Over these last two weeks, I have succumbed to the frustration, the anger, the sadness, the resentment, the... fill in the blank.
I have given into a mindset of negativity.
I have made poor choices.
You want to know something about choices... you always have one.
Even when you make wrong choices, you have the chance to turn right around and make a better one.
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As I sit here typing this (Sat., May 30th), I just finishing reading the book of Habakkuk.
I know, right... Habakkuk... of all the books of the Bible, that is the last place I thought I would find myself.
At the beginning of each book in my Bible, there is a little backstory. Allow me to share some parts of this with you.
"When the book of Habakkuk was written, Judah had fallen into severe moral and social decay, with violence, oppression of the poor, and corruption running rampant.
Habakkuk was troubled by the prosperity and rise to power of the wicked both inside and outside of Judah, especially at the expense of the poor and righteous. Where was God and why hadn't He done anything about this injustice?
Habakkuk's rhetorical writing style records his questions to God, and... though the Lord's answers to Habakkuk may not have been what he expected, he did realize that God was at work on behalf of His people. Habakkuk made the decision to believe and trust in the faithfulness of God, and to put aside his anxious and temporal thoughts (Phil. 4:6). He set his sights on things above, fixing his hope on the justice and salvation of the Lord. As a consequence, he moved from complaining to confidence, from doubt to trust, from man to God, and from fear to faith."
Did that give you chills? It did me.
You would think that was just written yesterday.
Yet it was written about 600 B.C. and just what I needed TODAY.
Yet it was written about 600 B.C. and just what I needed TODAY.
What made this even more powerful for me was what was ALREADY written in my Bible when I turned the page...
I have no idea the last time I read Habakkuk, or what was happening in the season of my life when I wrote that caption and made all those underlines... but one thing I do know... God knew when I was doing it way back then, that at this exact moment it would be just what I needed. Friend, He is so faithful like that, don't overlook those little 'God winks' or miss His whispers.
What stuck out to me today was verse 18... I will joy... I will joy in the God of my salvation.
What an interesting way to write that? The line above says I will rejoice, which totally makes more sense.
But... I will joy.
Choice.
Action.
Joy is not just a feeling.
Joy is a choice.
You have a choice to be joyful in the face of victory.
You have a choice to be joyful in the face of defeat.
Your joy should never be dependent on your circumstances.
But how often do you find that it is? Me too, friend...
Today, was just another reminder that...
"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines;
though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food;
though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls -
YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
The thing about choices... you always have one.
What will you choose today?
Until next time... Blessings!
Ok, I don't know if I would call it a milestone, per say, but let's go with it for lack of a better word...
Last month I turned 40. Where are my fellow 40-club friends? Would you consider that a milestone?
I guess to have survived this crazy ride called life for 40 years could be considered a pretty big deal. It felt like just another day, though my family and friends did make it very special for me (this is what happens when we are locked up to long, LOL)...
...but when you reach those (let's call them) mile-marker moments in life, it does cause you to pause and reflect, doesn't it?
For me, it was a moment of looking back and becoming so thankful for everything that God has brought me through. I felt myself being transported back into times in my life that were really hard, only this time I could see things so much more clearly. Having 'made it' through to the other side, I can now see exactly how God was using each situation as a way to grow me or help someone else. Maybe some day I will open up here and talk about all of it, but I can say with assurance had it not been for God's hand on my life I would not be where I am today.
Having God in your life, or rather committing your life to God's hands, does NOT mean that it will be free from trials, disappointments, heartache, sickness, or utter devastation... it does NOT mean that you will never hit rock bottom, be beat up, broken, or crushed...
It DOES mean that He will use every one of those instances to remold and reshape you into the person that He is creating you to be. Each time you are broken, He remakes you into something better. Each time you are crushed (seemingly beyond repair), He sweeps up the shattered pieces and the dust, breathes new life into them and turns them into something so much more beautiful than they were before. Not one piece is ever wasted.
The most beautiful part about all that, is that He will then cause your path to cross with the paths of others who find themselves in a place where you have already been. If you allow Him to, He will use you and all your painful past experiences to speak directly into the life of someone else... Him working through you to bless them.
"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Corinthians 1:4
The crazy part about how God works sometimes, is that I believe He will cause you to walk through storms for the sole purpose of you then being able to comfort someone else walking through the same thing. It has nothing at all to do with you. Part of being a good steward over ALL the things God has entrusted to us, means accepting the good with the (seemingly) bad. God uses all things for our good and His glory, and sometimes for the benefit of others, they just seem bad to us in the moment.
I challenge you today, friend... whatever it is that you are facing right now... ask God to reveal to you how it can be used for His glory. Take the focus off of you, and look up. Maybe even take a minute to look around. Is there someone else who is facing a similar situation? Or is there someone else who has already come through it and they are stronger because of it?
#1 - There is someone out there waiting to comfort you, God promised it.
#2 - There is someone out there waiting to be comforted, God promised it.
Your situation either puts you in category #1 or is preparing you for category #2.
Embrace it.
Gather all the seeds that you can find right now... comfort, understanding, acceptance, perseverance, knowledge, love... and be ready to sow them into the lives of others... some seeds are only found in the storm.
Until next time... Blessings!
